The Secret Service visited a man earlier this week in Moreno Valley, California who hung an effigy of President Barack Obama on his front lawn. Eddie Million told The Press Enterprise it was not a threat but an attempt to make his home look “scary” for the upcoming Halloween season.
“I started thinking how bad it looked, and I took it down immediately,” Million told reporters after being questioned by Secret Service agents on Tuesday. “If I had it to do all over again, I absolutely wouldn’t have done it. It was not meant to offend anybody. It was just supposed to be a decoration.”
Million’s neighbors were upset by his choice of decoration. They questioned his views on race and the president. Million insists that it was for his not-so-annual Halloween party: “We decorate big … A noose is scary. It’s Halloween. We have zombies in the back — figures, ghosts, zombies.”
“[The Secret Service] said that (incident) could have been construed as a threat to the president,” Million said. “They said my name is going to be on file. They said they’re just going to make a note…”
This is not the first effigy of the president since he was elected. Terry Jones, the Quran-burning pastor hung one outside of his church in June. Last year in the UK, a conservative party student association burned an effigy of the President. They also argued that their actions were not intentionally racist.
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